Africa

The report of Democratic Socialist Movement members’ participation in
this year’s May Day is dominated by the story of arrest of comrades, or
threat of it, at a number of rallies nationwide. This is not accidental.
We were the only group that went to many May Day rallies with materials
critical of the corrupt and anti-poor government at a period when its
intolerance of dissenting views is reaching a fever pitch. Indeed, we
were the only socialist group that was present at most of the rallies
where we intervened. Against the background of the increasing insurgency
in the north, the past few months have witnessed President Goodluck
Jonathan’s government using Boko Haram to justify a growing descent into
civilian dictatorship with brutal attacks on democratic rights
throughout the country. But as the report from Oyo state reveals
President Jonathan is not the only culprit. A good number of the state
governors could rival the President in the clampdown on opposing views.

A worker making enquiry at our stand in Lagos, photo DSM

However, this is not the first time our comrades have been arrested at
the May Day rallies since the 1999 return to civil rule over our
messages and demands against anti-poor government. In 2006 it was
workers that physically wrested and freed Demola Yaya and Eko John
Nicholas from the grip of police at the main May Day rally in Abuja.
Then they were about to be taken away by the police, led the Abuja’s
Commissioner of Police Lawrence Alobi, when the workers intervened. The
police chief considered the inscription and caption on the DSM banner
and paper respectively on the infamous third term ambition of the then
President Olusegun Obasanjo very offensive. The message on the banner
read, "3rd Term: Obasanjo Again? No Way! For a Mass Working Peoples
Party Now To End All Anti-Poor Policies".

This year we set out to intervene in Abuja and 13 states cutting across
North-west, South-west, Niger Delta, North-central and South-east parts
of the country. We planned to take the advantage of May Day to reach out
to workers with the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) as part of the
membership drive for the party in addition to popularizing socialist
alternative to manifold crises of capitalism in Nigeria. Today Nigeria
workers, youths and the poor do not have a party. The Labour Party,
formed and then effectively dumped by NLC, has completely become another
anti-poor pro-establishment party run on a "cash and carry" basis with
political merchants and mercenaries in its leadership. While we continue
to campaign for a mass working peoples’ party running a socialist
programme we of DSM have come up with the initiative of SPN as a party
to represent the interest of workers, youths and the poor in elections
and identify with them in their daily struggles against capitalist
attacks.

Armed with Socialist Democracy (SD, the paper of DSM), SPN leaflets, SPN
banners, SPN Manifesto, we went to the May Day rallies. One of the
leaflets which had been originally produced for the intervention at the
aborted April 10 protest against pension fraud and corruption and
titled, "Bring down this Government of Looters", unsettled the security
operatives. Acting to the mood of their Commander in Chief, who does not
brook opposition, such materials would not only be disallowed at the
rallies but the comrades also had to be whisked away. As the report from
Abuja reveals, it was not only the leaflet that is considered
"seditious". Placards with different demands and slogans were also
seized from workers as everybody was being searched before going into
the Eagle Square, the venue of the May Day Rally. The SSS (State
Security Service) operatives in Kaduna also attributed the arrest of
comrades in the state to the SD (our paper) with the bold headline on
pension fund scam.

In all, comrades were arrested in Abuja, Kaduna, Niger, Anambra, Oyo and
Imo States. We also were harassed by security operatives in Lagos and
Osun states. Comrade Victor was chased out of the venue of the May Day
rally in Delta and threatened with arrest. Good enough, he had been able
to distribute some copies of the leaflet before the SSS operatives came
calling. Indeed, somebody called to join SPN from the state having read
the leaflet. We did not have incidents in River, Ekiti and Ondo states.
Indeed in Ondo state four of 10 copies of SPN manifesto sold were bought
by security operatives! The comrade who was supposed to go to Kwara
could not make it for unavoidable reason and sent the materials to a
supporter in the state who could not get them until after the May Day
event.

It took pressure from comrades and supporters locally and
internationally on authorities to secure the release of comrades
arrested in Abuja, Kaduna and Anambra. Those in Kaduna and Anambra spent
night in the detention. Francis in Anambra was actually arraigned before
a magistrate court on seditious charges before being granted bail and
matter adjourned till June 12. The Anambra state commissioner of police,
overwhelmed by the protest calls and text messages, promised to withdraw
the case at the adjourned date. We have to resume the protest action as
the day approaches. Comrades in Oyo, Niger and Imo were released after
the May Day event had been rounded off. Some of comrades arrested in Oyo
were not allowed to be taken away out of the venue by some labour, civil
society and student activists. Three of Oyo comrades have been asked to
report again to State Security Service Headquarters on Friday May 10 for
the fourth time since their arrest on May 1.

Three of the reports are essentially prison notes. The rotten alliance
between labour leaders and state governors at the expense of interest of
workers is a common feature in some of the reports. This has been the
character of the May Day in Nigeria at least in the last one decade. We
could not capture the main event at Abuja, particularly the mood of
workers, because of the arrest of comrades at the "point of entry".
Media reports revealed instances of the cosy relationship between the
President and labour leaders, who did not however forget to lace their
speeches with usual hot air. There was also exchange of banters on
corruption and pension fraud between the President and labour leaders.

The theme of this year May Day was "One Hundred Years of Nationhood: The
Challenges of National Development" to mark the centenary of the then
British colonial rulers amalgamation of the Northern and Southern
Protectorates on January 1, 1914 which led to the creation of what is
today called Nigeria. This event will throw again to front burner of the
national discourse the country’s unresolved nationality questions. We of
the DSM shall effectively join the debate with socialist alternative to
the crisis of nationhood in Nigeria. There is indeed plan to publish a
book in this respect.

Despite the clampdown by the security operatives we achieved one of the
objectives of the intervention which is to make new supporters and
activists for the party, something we were especially able to do in
Rivers state. However given the arrests of DSM comrades and the current
downbeat mood among workers, sales of our paper Socialist Democracy were
down on last year. Nevertheless, we were able to sow socialist ideas
across the country which in time shall germinate and blossom into
material force. At least 15, 000 copies of the SPN leaflets were
circulated.

Find more reports on the regional May Day celebrations and battles in
Nigeria here